Ness Lee: ‘Folding In’

Opening Reception: Thursday Sept. 12 at 6:00pm
Exhibition Dates: Sept 12- Oct 20 2019
Location: 1151 Queen St E

“to fold, to be folding
folded often
the amount of creases felt
you almost become like tissue
delicate durability
i feel resiliently frail

to bend enough to see myself and what matters
creases of frequency
my hinges are sheer
unseen but felt
what it means to unbecome

want to let go
want to be held
through enough
only too often
break the fold to let life touch you
giving into the resistance to open
surrendering to grow
to bend further than you
to open only to wish you have closed
but to open is to exist”

- Ness Lee

'Folding In' is an exhibition on what it means to un-become; a process of folding and unfolding. How does one surrender, give in, and let go in order to heal, to flow as a being of ever growing change, to allow each moment to come as a visitor and embrace experience. Lee's intimate and lush figures share the fundamental need for love - to be held, cared for and seen in a life that is often lived alone - their existence born out of a tension to exist for others while simultaneously existing for themselves.

Ness Lee draws upon history and personal narratives to create tender and surreal illustrations, paintings, sculptures, and installations. Exploring states of mind during incomprehensible stages of vulnerability, Lee’s work takes form as an effort in seeking comfort, forgiveness and desire for an end of a self-perpetuated state. Her work has been featured at the AGO First Thursdays, Drake Hotel, Art Toronto, the Tokyo Art Book Fair, as well as galleries in Boston, New York, and Toronto.